How to soften butter with nothing but a glass and a plate

There are a ton of cooking tricks that are the culinary equivalent of a get-rich-quick scheme: they’re overly complicated and unlikely to be fruitful. Unless, of course, you already have the know-how to go toe-to-toe with chefs like Gordon Ramsay, and most of us aren’t.

But there’s hope yet for all you amateurs who just want a legitimately simple trick. It involves softening butter in a snap. All you need is butter, a glass, and some hot water…

Sometimes, you just want to spice things up in the kitchen—and we’re not talking about adding a pinch of hot pepper to your chicken. There are tons of hacks out there, but how many of them really make your life any easier?

So many articles claim to have the perfect way to make things easier in the kitchen. But more often than not, they are just weird and not too effective. Cut your cake with dental floss? No thanks! Put a pizza in the waffle maker? Why?

Luckily, there are some people online who have tips and tricks that really do work wonders. One of these useful resources is a YouTube channel called OnePotChefShow.

The channel prides itself on bringing viewers the best traditional, home-style, and classic recipes all using one single pot. However, there is one video that only involves a single ingredient, and it’s one of the most useful tips you’ll ever learn.

Let’s say that you want to spread some butter on a hot stack of waffles. After all, what are waffles without a rich melty square of butter?

Suddenly, panic strikes! You realize you had every intention of leaving your butter on the counter so it could soften before you ate, but you accidentally left the stick tucked away in the fridge. Uh oh!

Don’t panic! Rather than wait for it to warm up, grab your butter, a plate, and a glass of hot water. With these three simple items in hand, you’re well on your way to solving your problem.

Here’s how it works: first, you’ll want to cut a piece of butter—however much you plan on using—from the stick and set it out on a plate.

Next, take your glass of hot water, and let it sit out for a minute until the cup absorbs some of that nice heat. Once the glass is sufficiently warmed, dump out the water and wipe the inside of the cup. Now there’s only one step left until you have a perfect butter spread…

Take that hot cup, turn it upside down, and place it right over the butter, giving your little square of tasty fat a wave of residual heat. If you let it stand over your butter for a minute or two, it should be the perfect consistency for you to spread!

What’s the point of all this? Well, waiting for butter to soften to the optimal consistency can be one big pain. The butter is either too hard—and you destroy the bread while trying to spread it—or it’s too soft after you put it in the microwave and you accidentally melt it completely.

This tip comes in handy for more than just spreading your butter on waffles and pancakes, too. A majority of baking recipes call for softened, or room temperature, butter, and there’s a good reason for it…

Recipes that call for softened butter utilize sugar to help aerate the fat. When the butter is soft, the sugar can whip air pockets into the batter or dough, which then captures the baking soda or powder. This creates a fluffier end product. Unfortunately, butter that’s too hot or too cold simply doesn’t get aerated by the sugar.

In fact, it’s so important to soften your butter for some baking recipes that countless cooking blogs have offered their own tried-and-true methods for making sure your butter is ready for aeration. You might want to give these a try too…

Using a pot of hot water and a small metal bowl, you can soften a stick quickly by allowing the heat from the water to warm the bowl when it’s placed over the top of the pot.

Another method is cutting the stick into small cubes. This, however, takes more time, but the cubes will soften more quickly than the entire dense stick.

Here’s one more great method to try. Place your butter into a ziplock bag or between two sheets of wax paper and flatten it out with a rolling pin. By spreading out the surface area of the butter, it becomes room temperature quickly.

These are all great ways to soften your butter but whichever you choose. Be sure to give each one a try so that you can find the method that works the best for you.

Once you’ve mastered your butter-softening method of choice there’s nothing stopping you from creating treats that are practically worthy of a professional bakery. Butter can create food magic!

OnePotChefShow makes his videos totally easy to follow, especially his butter-softening video since it only requires one ingredient! It’s a quick and easy way to ensure your butter is always perfect…

This little trick will make it so you never have to wait for your butter to melt again! Now… is it time for seconds yet?